The Air Force expects to start test-flying the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile starting this fall, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office. Tests will iterate the design and continue until 2027, at which point HACM will transition to a major defense program ...
The Air Force’s hypersonics efforts are focused on an air-breathing cruise missile in the near term, a reuseable platform further out, and the possible end of its boost-glide ARRW program, Lt. Gen. Dale White told the House Armed Services Committee.
The Air Force has published images of an operational hypersonic Air-Launched Rapid-Response Weapon (ARRW) in Guam; a disclosure possibly meant to send a message to China but which raises questions about the future of the ARRW, which the Air Force insists it is not planning ...
Congress is mandating biennial updates on the Pentagon’s strategy for developing, buying, and fielding offensive and defensive hypersonic systems, according to the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, which is poised to pass both chambers this week. They also want a plan identifying overland test ranges ...
The Air Force is adding ground and air test apparatus and developing new live-fly test ranges in anticipation of a more frequent and aggressive hypersonic test capacity, officials with the Air Force Test Center said.
While the Air Force released scant details about the latest test of its AGM-183 Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon late last week, Secretary Frank Kendall told a Congressional panel it was “not a success”—and given ARRW’s checkered test history overall, Kendall indicated the service may shift focus ...
The Air Force has revived hypersonic sled testing, dormant for 18 years, in order to add another means to the limited portfolio of hypersonic test capabilities. Sled tests at Holloman Air Force Base, N.M., demonstrated that hypersonic speeds can be achieved on a test track ...
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said he's "unsatisfied" with the pace of progress in Air Force hypersonics programs and even "the degree to which we’ve figured out what we need from hypersonics." Speaking to reporters at AFA's Air, Space & Cyber Conference, he said he's ...
Air Force Global Strike Command chief Gen. Timothy M. Ray offered a blunt assessment of the Army’s plan to take over some of the Air Force’s long-range strike mission. “It’s a stupid idea,” he said during an AFA Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies podcast. The ...